Saturday, July 01, 2006

Wise up America

As I’m driving around here in LA, I see that gas prices are about $3.51 in some areas. As much as I do enjoy seeing that being a conservationist, I know that it only hurts the poor while rich either benefits or could care less. This I cannot stand.

In the news last week, I heard that the CEO of Shell is going on a tour to assure consumers that they are not benefiting from the high gas prices. This seems a little contradictory as they continue to make record profits. Their argument on the high gas prices is that it is simply a matter of supply and demand.

When Former Exxon CEO retired, he received a benefits package valued at around $400 million dollars. There are a lot of countries that doesn’t make that much in a year. This is not including the $3.6 million bonus last year plus salary and other benefits.

Exxon defends Raymond's compensation, pointing out that during the 12 years he ran the company, Exxon became the largest oil company in the world and that the stock price went up 500 percent.

So, here’s the point. Which one is it? Why did an oil company like Exxon make over $36 billion dollars last year.

Is it purely a supply and demand that’s driving the prices of the gas up so high and inadvertently giving the oil companies such a high profit margin? If so, why are you giving the CEO such a large benefits package and bonus? After all, he didn’t have anything to do with it right? It’s the mysterious market forces that are doing all the work. Why give him such a big bonus when he didn't have anything to do with your profits?

If the CEO deserved the bonus and the insanely large benefits package, this would mean that they did have control over what’s going on. Hence they are the reason and/or had the ability to control the gas prices. This would also mean that they lie to congress and in your face on a daily basis.

So which one is it? You can’t have it both ways.

People, think about what these corporate types are saying. They are lying to your face. Don’t accept things as just how it is. Question things for once.

Sadly, the oil company CEOs can wear shirts that says “Fuck you, I’ve got your money”, and you would still buy their gas cause you just gotta look cool in your Escalade or H2. Of course, all of you need your horsepower so that you can go 5mph being stuck traffic everyday.

What the hell is wrong with you people? You don't need any car that gets under 20MPG.

Of course, this government is just so powerless to do anything about it because they’re so tied up in listening to your mundane phone conversations, fighting a war to get the oil companies more oil to make more money at the expense of our lives, fighting science so that other countries can be way ahead of the US in embryonic research, and of course, the most important topic for our government today, fighting to keep gay couples as second class citizens without equal rights.

Yup, the “Gay agenda” is definitely what’s destroying this country and need this government's #1 focus.